SuccessFactors Authenticate an Element Instance

You can authenticate with SuccessFactors to create your own instance of the SuccessFactors element through the UI or through APIs. Once authenticated, you can use the element instance to access the different functionality offered by the SuccessFactors platform.

Authenticate Through the UI

Use the UI to authenticate with SuccessFactors and create an element instance as described in Authenticate an Element Instance (UI). You will need the credentials that specified in API Provider Setup.

After successfully authenticating, we give you several options for next steps. Make requests using the API docs associated with the instance, map the instance to a virtual data resource, or use it in a formula template.

Authenticate Through API

Send a request to our /instances endpoint to authenticate an element instance. When finished note the token and id.

To authenticate an element instance:

Construct a JSON body as shown below (see Parameters):

{
  "element": {
    "key": "successfactors"
  },
  "configuration": {
    "hostname": "<Host Name>",
    "companyid": "<Company ID>",
    "username": "<SuccessFactors account user name>",
    "password": "<SuccessFactors account password>",
  },
  "tags": [
    "<Add_Your_Tag>"
  ],
  "name": "<INSTANCE_NAME>"
}

Call the following, including the JSON body you constructed in the previous step:
```
POST /instances
```
Note: Make sure that you include the User and Organization keys in the header. See the Overview for details.
Locate the token and id in the response and save them for all future requests using the element instance.

Example cURL

curl -X POST \
  https://api.cloud-elements.com/elements/api-v2/instances \
  -H 'authorization: User <USER_SECRET>, Organization <ORGANIZATION_SECRET>' \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{
  "element": {
    "key": "successfactors"
  },
  "configuration": {
    "hostname": "<Host Name>",
    "companyid": "<Company ID>",
    "username": "<SuccessFactors account user name>",
    "password": "<SuccessFactors account password>",
  },
  "tags": [
    "humancapital"
  ],
  "name": "API Instance"
}'

Parameters

API parameters not shown in Cloud Elements 2.0 are in code formatting.

Note: Event-related parameters are described in Events.

Parameter	Description	Data Type
`key`	The element key successfactors	string
Name `name`	The name of the element instance created during authentication	string
Host Name `hostname`	The SuccessFactors API endpoint URL addressed in API Provider Setup	string
Company ID `companyid`	Your SuccessFactors company ID addressed in API Provider Setup	string
User Name `username`	Your SuccessFactors account user name	string
Password `password`	Your SuccessFactors account password	string
tags	Optional. User-defined tags to further identify the instance.	string

Example Response for an Authenticated Element Instance

In this example, the instance ID is 12345 and the instance token starts with "ABC/D...". The actual values returned to you will be unique: make sure you save them for future requests to this new instance.

{
  "id":12345,
  "name":"API Instance",
  "createdDate":"2018-05-25T15:56:22Z",
  "token":"ABC/Dxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx=",
  "element":{
    "id":6315,
    "name":"SuccessFactors",
    "hookName":"SuccessFactors",
    "key":"successfactors",
    "description":"The API can be used to manipulate employee data and to generate reports in several formats.",
    "image":"elements/custom-element-default-logo.png",
    "active":false,
    "deleted":false,
    "typeOauth":false,
    "trialAccount":false,
    "resources":[  ],
    "transformationsEnabled":true,
    "bulkDownloadEnabled":true,
    "bulkUploadEnabled":true,
    "cloneable":true,
    "extendable":true,
    "beta":false,
    "authentication":{
      "type":"custom"
    },
    "extended":false,
    "useModelsForMetadata":true,
    "hub":"humancapital",
    "protocolType":"http",
    "parameters":[  ],
    "private":false
  },
  "elementId":3642,
  "tags":[
    "humancapital"
  ],
  "provisionInteractions":[

  ],
  "valid":true,
  "disabled":false,
  "maxCacheSize":0,
  "cacheTimeToLive":0,
  "configuration":{  },
  "eventsEnabled":true,
  "traceLoggingEnabled":false,
  "cachingEnabled":false,
  "externalAuthentication":"none",
  "user":{
    "id":123456,
    "emailAddress":"claude.elements@cloud-elements.com",
    "firstName":"Claude",
    "lastName":"Elements"
  }
}